This month’s Kurasu Partner Roaster is aoma coffee from Honmachi, Osaka, led by owner and roaster Hiroshi Aono. Our relationship with Aono-san goes back many years, from his time at EMBANKMENT Coffee to the early days of aoma coffee.

Located in the business district of Semba, Osaka, aoma coffee feels closer to a coffee stand than a large café. Some people visit Honmachi specifically for aoma coffee, while others stop by for a cup before or after work. It is a roaster that sits naturally within the rhythm of the city, while still carrying a very clear identity of its own.

To introduce this month’s partner roaster more deeply, we visited aoma coffee and filmed a new episode of How They Brew — a YouTube series where we ask roasters how they brew coffee, what they value in a cup, and how their philosophy appears in the way they make coffee.

What we admire most about aoma coffee is its honesty. Nothing feels forced, and nothing is dressed up more than it needs to be. The coffees are clean, precise, and expressive, but never loud. They do not try to impress you all at once; instead, they quietly draw you in. By the time the cup is finished, you understand what makes them special.

Aono-san is not someone who tries to make coffee look bigger than it is. He does not rely on dramatic language or complicated explanations. Instead, he simply meets each coffee with care and sincerity. That attitude comes through not only in the flavor, but also in the atmosphere of the shop. When you speak with him, you can feel his passion for coffee, but he never pushes it too hard. Even without saying much, the core of what he does comes through clearly.

Osaka is a city full of energy. Its food culture is bold and immediate, the kind of place where flavor often announces itself right away. In that environment, aoma coffee feels quietly distinctive. Aono-san is not chasing impact for the sake of impact. His coffee feels more like a careful conversation with the bean: clear, direct, and free from unnecessary noise.

As reflected in the roaster text for this month, the appeal of aoma coffee cannot be explained only by words like “light roast” or “specialty coffee.” What stays with us is the attitude behind the cup: receiving the work of producers with respect, adding no unnecessary performance, and delivering the coffee as directly as possible to the drinker.

Knowing your own way of brewing

In the video, Aono-san shares a very straightforward recipe using a HARIO V60. The recipe uses 13g of coffee and 208g of water — a classic 1:16 ratio that is easy to repeat at home.

But the simplicity of the recipe is not casual. What matters to Aono-san is knowing exactly how you brew, and doing the same thing consistently. Even when the coffee changes, the method stays steady. When he wants to adjust the flavor, he mainly changes the grind size, rather than changing many variables at once.

That feels very aoma. It is not about going in too many directions. It is about understanding your own approach, keeping it simple, and letting the coffee show itself clearly.

In the video, he also talks about keeping the kettle spout close to the coffee bed, making the same circular motion each time, and checking the coffee bed after brewing. If the bed looks different every time, it may be a sign that the pouring is changing. For Aono-san, even these small details are part of understanding your own brewing style.

The recipe

• Dripper: HARIO V60 Ceramic 01
• Coffee: 13g
• Water: 208g
• Water temperature: Around 91–92°C
• Grind size: Medium-coarse
• Target yield: Around 170g
• Brew time: Around 2:10
• Pour structure: 40g bloom, followed by 60g, 50g, and 58g pours

The cup he aims for is light and smooth in mouthfeel, while still leaving a clear impression of the origin and variety after swallowing. He uses a relatively coarse grind and a slower brew, but the goal is not to make the recipe complicated. It is to extract what is needed from the coffee and let it land clearly in the cup.

This month’s Partner Roaster coffee

This month, Aono-san intentionally chose a very classic Brazil. To us, that feels like Aono-san saying: this is coffee at its most essential. Let’s not overthink it, or take it somewhere it does not need to go. Let’s simply enjoy what coffee can be when it is handled with care.

That choice feels very true to aoma coffee. Rather than trying to surprise people with something unusual, it brings the focus back to the simple pleasure of a well-made cup.

At the same time, aoma coffee’s clean and direct expression can also be felt in the other coffee selected for this month. Instead of pushing the character of the coffee too far forward, Aono-san presents it in a way that feels natural and easy to enjoy. Through these two coffees, we hope you can feel not only the flavors themselves, but also the way aoma coffee approaches coffee.

Kurasu Coffee Subscription is our monthly coffee subscription program. Each month, we partner with a different specialty coffee roaster from Japan and deliver their coffee together with coffee roasted by Kurasu. Through the subscription, we hope to introduce not only delicious coffee, but also the people, places, recipes, and stories behind Japan’s coffee culture.

Subscribe to Kurasu Coffee